So as the government makes cut of £19 million to Arts Council England my hopes of finding a job get even slimmer. However, every cloud has silver lining. Along with the cuts to every organisation in the Department of Culture, Media and Sport there has been cuts across other government departments. Initiatives that were set up by the previous Labour government are being scraped. One initiative which no longer exist to my joy is Future Jobs Fund. This was an initiative that meant arts organisations could apply for posts to be filled by people who had been receiving Job Seeker’s Allowance for over 6 months. If an organisation was approved they could advertise positions and if a successful person was chosen the government would pay for the individual to work instead of the organisation.
In theory this is a good scheme. Arts organisations that are tight for cash are able to get support and for the individual on Job Seeker’s Allowance they are building their skills which should result in them being able to gain a job after the 6 months. However, the jobs these individuals were taking were positions were entry level and thus stopping graduates being able to get into organisations. I, myself was unemployed over the summer and even with a dance degree I realised my hopes of finding employment were low and so I decided to do a Masters. What I should have done was sign on the dole, wait 6 months and get given a job instead. Now I have £10,000 in debt, a degree, soon a masters, a years worth of voluntary experiences but next to no opportunity of getting a job in the arts.
However, the new government have gotten rid of this initiative so maybe there is a light at the end of the tunnel. Is the removal of this scheme bad for arts organisations. Not really since there are hundred, actually thousands, of desperate individuals will work part-time for free. In fact, these people are likely to work harder since they are trying to prove their weight in gold. So the only people to lose out are the people on Job Seekers Allowance, however, if they really wanted to get some experience they could volunteer.
Cutting £19million from Arts Council England budget -1
Cutting the Future Jobs Fund initiative -1
Government = 0
